Apple to invest Rs 1,000 Cr in India for its retail initiative

The company hopes that customer experience within the store will help push sales through its retail and online partners.

Aug 30, 2019 by The Passage Team

Apple has plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore in India to set up an online selling platform and retail stores. “There have been meetings with company executives. The first store is likely to come up in Mumbai followed by Delhi and a third location is yet undecided,” a senior government official familiar with the development told The Economic Times.

We look forward to one day welcoming customers to India’s first Apple retail store. It will take us some time to get our plans underway and we’ll have more to announce at a future date. We love our customers in India and we’re eager to serve them online and in-store with the same experience and care that Apple customers around the world enjoy, the company said in a statement.

The government on Wednesday eased FDI rules around Single Brand Retail Trade (SBRT) by allowing exports and contract manufacturing to be counted in the mandatory 30% local sourcing norm over a period of five years. The government also allowed foreign single brand companies to sell directly via webstores, irrespective of a brick-and-mortar store presence.

According to the Economic Times report, people familiar with the matter said the Apple stores will be a major branding exercise and the company hopes that customer experience within the store will help push sales through its retail and online partners.

The iPhone maker had a bumpy ride in India so far. The market share of Apple currently stands at around 1% by volume and 3% by value - largely because of the high price tags of its products. The Indian government has previously rejected proposals to permit reselling of refurbished phones, which would have helped Apple lower price of its devices.

The Passage Team

The Passage is committed to creating in-depth content over technology industry across Asia with a focus on emerging startups in the technology, healthcare, education, food, tech, travel & mobility segments.